Goodnight
by December'sRose
Summary: Toph was sure that she was awake. What she wasn’t sure of was why Sokka was still awake. She wasn’t sure why Sokka was crying. Tokka one shot


Title: Goodnight

Rated K+  
Summary: Toph was sure that she was awake. What she wasn't sure of was why Sokka was still awake. She wasn't sure why Sokka was _crying_. Tokka one shot

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. **Goodnight **is owned by Evanescence.

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Toph was sure of three things.

She was sure that Aang and Katara had already fallen asleep.

She was sure that the time must have been somewhere in between midnight and dawn.

She was sure that she was awake.

The young Earth bender still wasn't sure of a few things though. She wasn't sure why Sokka was still awake.

She wasn't sure why he had decided to settle himself beside her sleeping form.

She wasn't sure why he was crying. She had felt a few tear drops land on the ground between them.

Toph wasn't sure why he was stroking her hair.

She had awoken to his gentle touch and a crisp, midnight breeze. Sokka didn't know the young girl was awake. As Toph faked sleep, he continued to run his fingers through her flimsy hair.

This was unlike the water tribe warrior. Normally, he was the first out of the four to fall asleep and remained in his unconscious state until Katara finally stomped over and poured cold stream water all over him.

This didn't make any sense; why was Sokka up in the middle of the night?  
Why was he crying?  
And, most importantly, why was he stroking her hair?

Toph was too curious to pretend to be asleep any longer. As Sokka's hand reached up again and grazed her ear gently (as it had been doing for the past several minutes) she reached her own hand up and gently squeezed it.

"You'd better have a good excuse for waking me up Snoozles," she said, her tone firm and soft at the same time.

She felt him freeze up beside her, as though trying to come up with a good excuse.

"I thought you were asleep," he admitted finally. Toph made a noise that sounded like a mixture of a snort and a suppressed laugh.

"Me!? I thought _you'd_ be asleep. What are you doing up and why were you crying?"  
"I wasn't crying," Sokka protested, a little too quickly and a little too loudly.

"Shh Snoozles," Toph warned him. "You'll wake Aang and Katara up."

Sokka glanced over at the two quickly. His loud reaction did not make them stir from their peaceful sleep.

"I wasn't crying," he protested again, using his free hand to wipe away stray tears hastily. Toph smirked.

"You do know that I felt your tears when they hit the ground, right?"

The warrior sighed heavily. Toph's curiosity was starting to grow again.

"What were you crying about?" She couldn't help but ask. Sokka paused for a moment before answering.

"It's . . . a full moon tonight," he replied sadly after a short delay.

"You're crying because it's a full moon?" Toph asked, bewildered.

"No!" Sokka shook his head as Toph shushed him once again. "I . . . hadanightmare."

"Come again?" The last part of his sentence was lost in a mumble.

"I said. . ." The Earth bender shushed him for a third time. "I said, I had a nightmare," Sokka answered, glad that Toph couldn't see the faint blush that tinted his cheeks.

Well, that answered one of her questions. Yet curiosity was still picking on Toph as another night breeze entered the air.

"What was the nightmare about?" she asked quietly.  
She wasn't going to tease him about it. Everyone had nightmares. Toph had never heard of Sokka getting them though. Katara had told her once that Aang used to get them awhile back before she started traveling with them. Toph had also once witnessed Katara have one, the night after they left Jet in the care of Smellerbee and Longshot.

Nightmares weren't something you teased someone about.

Sokka shook his head again.

"It's silly. It's nothing really. I'm not going to bother you with it. I'm sorry I woke you up Toph."

"Don't even think about it." Sokka had made a move to get up and go back to bed but had stopped when Toph had squeezed his hand. It wasn't until then did she realize that she was still holding his hand.

"I haven't known you long but I do know you Sokka. It's not 'nothing' if it makes you cry. You never cry."

Sokka was silent.

"Remember when Aang, Katara and I told you about what happened at the North Pole?"

Toph remained quite for a moment before answering.

"Are you talking about the Avatar State?" she asked finally.

"Something else happened," he said. "Something happened and I never want it to happen again."

"What do you mean?"  
"I lost someone I couldn't protect. I lost someone that I loved."  
Now it was Toph's turn to freeze. There was a lot about Aang, Katara and Sokka that she still didn't know. Sure she had heard stories. Sure she had known how Sokka and Katara had met Aang. She was told what happened up at the North Pole, how Aang gained this amazing power. She wasn't told of this minor detail.

"So . . . you had a nightmare about what happened at the North Pole?" Toph asked, finding that her voice had gone slightly dry.

"Not exactly. . ."

"What do you mean?" Toph dared to breathe as she felt Sokka squeeze her hand softly.

The night air danced around them. Sokka felt a stray tear run freely down his cheek once again.

"In my dream, I couldn't protect you. In my dream, I lost you Toph."

Toph felt the tear land on the ground.

"You . . . lost . . . me?"

Toph couldn't figure out if she had heard right. _That's_ why Sokka had been crying? He had been crying because he couldn't protect _her?_

Sokka squeezed her hand a bit tighter.

"Toph, I hate it when I can't protect the ones I love. I hate it when the ones I love are taken away from me," he said quietly, thinking about Yue, his mother, and Suki.

Toph for once was lost for words. Was this a dream? Was she really awake? Would Katara wake her up in a few minutes?  
Was Sokka really afraid that he would lose her?

"Toph . . ."  
It was at that moment did she realize that Sokka had started crying silently. Tears fell rapidly onto the soft Earth.

"Sokka. . .would you like me to sing to you?"

Toph felt him wipe a tear from his eyes.

"What do you . . .?"

"I know how hard it is to fall asleep after a nightmare. Back when I was living with my mom and dad, I used to have them. My mom always sang me the same song and afterwards, I was always able to fall asleep again. Want me to sing it to you?"

Sokka was silent for a moment before replying "I'd like that."

Toph took a deep breath and started to sing softly:  
_"Goodnight, sleep tight, no more tears. In the morning, I'll be here. And when we said 'Goodnight' dry your eyes. Because we said Goodnight and not goodbye. We said Goodnight . . . and not . . . goodbye." _

It was hard to describe the silence that filled the night air after Toph ended on a soft note. Toph felt a final tear fall from Sokka's eyes.

"In the morning. . ." he repeated softly.

"I'll be here," Toph squeezed his hand gently.

Sokka squeezed it back. "Toph, never leave me, alright?"

"I won't Snoozles."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart."

Toph felt Sokka's hand slip out of hers as he brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it softly. Toph felt herself blush.

"Thanks for everything Toph."

"Anytime Sokka. Anytime."

-Fin-

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this one shot. I thought that song would go well with it. How did you guys like it? Please review to let me know! Thanks for reading!


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